Chapter 73: Anna Yanami Won Over by Tonkatsu.
....
"Lunchtime~~"
Anna Yanami's vibrant, energetic cheer echoed through the classroom. The rest of the girls cast envious glances at her and Lala's retreating backs; their setup of the "Gensokyo Food Culture Research Club" alongside Kihara was already common knowledge throughout the school.
Quite a few girls wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to join the club and get closer to Kihara. However, the person in charge of reviewing club applications happened to be Anna Yanami—the eternal gatekeeper—resulting in zero successful admissions to this day.
According to unverified rumors, on days when they didn't bring bentos, their lunches were cooked fresh and eaten right inside the club activity room.
Hot, piping-fresh meals naturally blew cold bentos straight out of the water.
Furthermore, it was said that Kihara personally cooked almost every time. Had they not been worried about inviting his displeasure, the girls harboring feelings for him would have loved to squeeze into the hallway outside the club room, using the wafting aroma of dishes cooked by Kihara's own hands to complement their own meals.
Anna walked right at the front, leading the way, while Lala and Kihara walked hand-in-hand behind her. Had she not joined Momo's Harem Plan, she likely wouldn't have been able to maintain an optimistic mindset like this, completely ignoring their overt display of affection.
Slide—
Pulling open the door to the club activity room, Anna trotted up to the food machine, resting her hand on it as she turned back to speak: "Kihara-kun, Lala, let's not use the food machine to cook today. How about we make it ourselves?"
"Sure thing. Lala, you don't need to cook—just help us out by washing the dishes."
"Alright then..." Although Lala felt a touch disappointed, she obediently walked over to the cabinet holding the tableware.
Kihara asked Anna, who was rolling up her sleeves: "What dish do you plan to make?"
"Tonkatsu!" She bared her teeth in a grin, holding up two fingers in a 'V' sign.
"Oh~ Sounds great. I'll take care of the remaining dishes then."
Kihara put on a show of pulling out his phone, before producing fresh pork from his 4D Backpack and handing it to her.
After making substantial romantic progress with Lala, he had used the excuse that she had made him a phone with identical storage capabilities to openly use his 4D Backpack.
The seasonings and condiments for preparing food were mostly available in the activity room, while a minor portion of spices and raw ingredients were supplied by Kihara.
As a Pelican Town farmer, carrying various fresh ingredients around in his backpack was completely logical, right?
When it came to tonkatsu, the indispensable accompanying dish was naturally curry; the two were practically a classic pairing.
Both Anna Yanami and Lala preferred sweeter curry, whereas Kihara liked a thick, slightly spicy curry. Thus, he specifically used two separate pots to simmer them.
Having helped wash dishes at home every day, Lala had developed great skills,
currently chatting with Anna as she washed the plates.
"Anna, why did you suddenly want to make tonkatsu?"
"Hump-hump-hump, Lala, this is a story between Kihara-kun and me, you know! Do you want to hear it?"
"Wow, I want to hear it, I want to hear it!!"
Seeing her emerald eyes gleaming with anticipation, the corners of Anna's mouth curled up almost to her ears. Before she could even open her mouth to tell the story in a nostalgic tone, Kihara lightly tapped her on the head with his wet right hand.
"Don't go looking around while chopping things. What if you accidentally cut your hand?"
"But... I want to tell Lala our story..."
"I'll tell it then. You just keep making your tonkatsu."
At an unknown point, Kihara had already chopped and sautéed the curry ingredients, adding them to the pots with curry roux blocks to simmer. Now, all that was left was to wait for the curry to come to a boil, stir in coconut milk, cover the pots, and let them simmer for twenty minutes to finish.
He forcibly turned Anna's face back toward the cutting board, then recounted their past experiences to Lala.
Starting back in their elementary school days, Anna Yanami's big-eater trait had already begun to show its early signs. Every lunch, she needed to eat roughly half a portion more than everyone else.
However, elementary school lunches were served by classmates on duty, making it impossible to give her extra portions for no reason. Kihara had no choice but to share half of his own lunch with her.
Even so, by the time school ended, she would still cry out in hunger. To keep the little foodie wailing behind him quiet, Kihara had to personally take to the kitchen to make tonkatsu for her.
He kept making it for five full years, right up until his adoptive parents passed away in a car accident.
What Kihara felt like deadpanning about was that he had never met these adoptive parents from start to finish, nor could he find a single photograph related to them no matter how thoroughly he searched the house.
Perhaps it carried some relation to this world being a fusion of multiple universes. All in all, it could be said that he had maxed out Anna Yanami's affection solely through tonkatsu during their childhood.
Yet who knew what it bought him in return was the gluttonous sea otter's ruthless confession desensitization therapy. Had it been someone who didn't understand her personality and bizarre brain logic, they likely would have blocked her and cut off all contact long ago.
"Fragrant, mouthwatering tonkatsu is ready!!!"
Three crispy, golden-crusted, tempting pork cutlets lay quietly on the platter, each a full two knuckles thick.
Anna used a knife to divide the pork cutlets into five pieces, drawing patterns on the surface with ketchup. When decorating Kihara's portion, she subconsciously drew a heart.
By the time she realized it was inappropriate, the design was already finished. She had no choice but to bite the bullet and draw two more hearts, though it felt a bit like trying to cover up a blunder.
She simply added an arrow to pierce through the three hearts, trying to convey that she was merely doodling randomly.
Yet after finishing the doodle, she realized her frantic efforts actually made it look even more like an explicit confession to Kihara. Stunned, she stood in place holding the ketchup bottle, utterly at a loss.
Lala walked over and carried the tonkatsu to the simmering curry pot, scooping a generous ladle of curry to pour straight over the tonkatsu, neatly covering her "artwork."
"Ah..."
"What's wrong, Anna?"
"N-Nothing. You sure move fast."
"Heehee, because just smelling the aroma made my stomach rumble uncontrollably."
Assuming she had escaped a disaster, Anna hadn't anticipated that after finishing the meal, Lala would take advantage of the window when Kihara went to the restroom to sit beside her and ask softly: "Anna, when you drew hearts for Kihara, were you preparing to confess to him?"
"Ah? You noticed the pattern on top?!"
Lala scratched her head with a shy giggle: "I was just way too hungry at the time, and you were standing frozen in front of the last platter of tonkatsu, so I took the initiative to carry it over... I only remembered the pattern halfway through eating. You aren't mad, right?"
"No, no!" Anna waved her hands frantically in denial. She hadn't been prepared to confess to Kihara in the first place, let alone do such a thing right in front of Lala. "I was just trying to tease him a bit. Don't misunderstand."
"Misunderstand what?"
"That is... misunderstand that I was going to confess to him."
"Rest assured, since you put it that way, I definitely won't overthink things."
Lala was indeed naturally innocent, but that didn't mean she failed to realize Anna liked Kihara. After all, the other girl had only denied wanting to confess—she hadn't denied liking him.
....
Thank you for reading.